Characteristics of blackberry and raspberry seeds and oils

Abstract

This study is concerned with the determination of technological quality characterristics of dried pomaces, i.e. blackberry and raspberry seeds, along with the quality parameters, content of total carotenoids and chlorophyl and transparency of crude extracted oil (using organic solvent). Blackberry seeds (Rubus fruticosus L.) were obtained from a domestic variety Čač anska bestrna, while the raspberry seeds (Rubus idaeus L.) were of the variety Willamette. Oil content of the blackberry pomace was 13.97 and 14.34%, while the oil content of the raspberry pomace was 13.44 and 14.33% on dry basis (d.b.). In regard to technological characteristics of the pomaces, i.e. volumetric and specific weight, no considerably difference was found. However, a weight test for 1000 seeds showed a significant difference in weight: 3.5 g (d.b.) for the blackberry pomace and 1.5 g for the raspberry pomace (d.b.). Proximate analysis of blackberry seed oil showed that this oil had better quality since the FFA value was 3.43% (sample B1) and 3.53% (sample B2), while the peroxide value was 8.89 and 11.16 mmol/kg, respectively. Raspberry seed oil had higher FFA (8.59 and 8.83% for sample R1 and R2) and peroxide values (13.99 and 13.84 for sample R1 and R2) than the blackberry seed oil. Crude extracted blackberry seed oil had a brown-greenish color due to the high total chlorophyll content (around 3000 mg/kg dissolved in cyclohexane). Raspberry seed oil had a dark yellowishorange color, due to lower chlorophyll content (around 200 mg/kg) compared to the blackberry seed oil, while the content of total carotenoids was slightly higher in this oil (around 40 mg/kg) compared to the blackberry seed oil (33 mg/kg).